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Severn Bridge, a Main Route Between England and Wales, Shuts as Drone Flown From Tower (bbc.com)
A main route between England and Wales was closed after a man climbed a bridge and flew a drone from the top. An anonymous reader shares a report: Traffic was stopped on the M48 -- the older of two Severn crossings -- because of "concern for welfare," police said. The man, in his 20s, came down voluntarily from the 47m (154ft) bridge tower and was arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance. Highways England said it was deeply concerned and that "a person has put their life at serious risk". "The incident was quickly spotted on our security cameras and reported to police and thankfully there was no injury or worse on this occasion," it said. "Appropriate security is in place on the bridge, we are liaising with Avon and Somerset Police and will be undertaking investigations to determine if any damage was caused during the incident." Police said: "Officers attended the M48 Severn Bridge at 08:10 this morning after concerns were raised for a man who appeared to have climbed one of the towers and was flying a drone off it."
...the dumbass didn't fall off....
American cops would have probably shot him off the tower to keep him from committing suicide.
There must be a quad-copter owners' version of the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory... DOFT?
I know it's the hot thing to bring up drone related closings - but in this case, wasn't the road closed because there was some guy far above it that might have fallen or dropped things on the road from above, rather than the drone being a factor?
The drone doesn't seem to be a reason for the closure, at all.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Waiting for the YT video....
But buying a computer and posting on forums isn't?
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Well SirAsshole - if this asshole (a relative perhaps?) had fallen from the tower onto the road below and caused a bus full of school kids to swerve and crash you would probably be saying something different.
I once had a dream about a drone. I called the Mayor of London to tell him and he closed down the entire city for 6 days!
We Brits take our drones very seriously.
If the guy climbed it with a rifle strapped to his back then, sure, take some precautionary steps.
Shutting down traffic because someone is flying an RC aircraft from the top of a bridge ?
Really ?
That stupid decision caused far more problems than it solved.
If the drivers there are anything like the ones in the States, they would not have noticed it in the first place because they are usually staring at their phones.
I swear half the planet is terrified of their own shadow these days.
When I grew up these incidents where called model airplane incident. When did they renamed them drones? I know this is off topic, but it is new years eve. Time to become nostalgic.
This is neither the hacker nor prankster ethos. It is just selfish, idiotic, and puts others at risk. Falling from such a height could easily kill someone in a vehicle or cause a serious accident. @b0s0z0ku: If you think this sentiment is being authoritarian you are almost certainly an idiot or a psychopath---probably both.
Meaningless whatifism...
The same could have happened to a sick person walking on the side walk and stumbled into the street as well. Are you going to write a law and hire a legion of police enforcing that law and removing infirm people from the side of the road?
As usual someone like you failed to understand... it's not the enforcement of the law that is being "assholed about here" it is folks like you more than willing to let government run amuck in response to someone doing something more inconvenient and stupid which is exponentially far worse than the problem at hand.
You really do need to chill and stop letting petty excuses like this goad you into being more of a moron than the moron you are angry at.
Would you bother to read 'Bridge closes when man climbs to top'?
So creates all these false flags to whip up fear so the public won't object too hard. H.L. Mencken said:
Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.
Looking more and more prophetic and correct by the day.
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
I was stuck for 2 hours on the freeway because someone climbed over the side wall of an overpass. Police were afraid he was going to suicide by jumping into freeway traffic below, so shut down traffic to protect the lives of people driving underneath.
The only reason for flying the drone was for the "epic" selfie he'd post to the soc-nets. Only reason the BBC mentioned the drone was so they could add a few paragraphs about the airport incident before Christmas.
It's like the media elites don't want the rest of us invading their airspace. They paid big bucks for those helicopters and here you come with your Mavic Pro. Better make them illegal so the 'beeb can go back to their monopoly on TV.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
Would be much cheaper if government just ignored this slob or waited for him to come down an arrest him without all of this "over reactive BS".
Would it be cheaper if he fell? Hit a car causing a chain of accidents that took hours to clear and closed the bridge for a significantly longer time?
Check yourself before you wreak yourself man. That anti-government anger vein on your forehead looks like it's about to burst.
On March 29, the UK will shoot itself in the foot. A well rehearsed drone campaign with disruptions to infrastructure and transportaion networks could insure that the wound festers properly.
You're supposed to have the drone fly up to the top of the towers so that you don't have to climb up to get the photo.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Meaningless whatifism...
The same could have happened to a sick person walking on the side walk and stumbled into the street as well. Are you going to write a law and hire a legion of police enforcing that law and removing infirm people from the side of the road?
You are truly an idiot. There is no need to write such a law. Law enforcement can and will intervene if they find someone that is a hazard to themselves or others, whatever the reason.
"Whatifsm"... pfft. When something happens and it could have been prevented by the reasonable measures already in place there is an outrage. Nothing happens, lunatics like you come crawling out of the woodwork spewing paranoia and hatred. I have no trouble with the latter creeps being pissed off.
From all your ramblings I understand that you are a paranoid anti-government kook, so there is no reasoning with you. Put on your tinfoil hat and go into your underground nuclear shelter where you are safe from those that are out to get you.
There's been a few YouTubers/freerunner types to climb it, some using drones while on it, and each time it gets shut. Yes it's partly the drone for any number of reasons and yes any reaction to it will be overblown out of fear of the unknown and that there's a handful of people dedicated to preventing this kind of shit. It is bloody high and windy too - I should think if you only went 10 metres up and got out a camera the bridge will be shut just the same.
Isn't that the awesome new i7 processor from Intel?
can destroy a 100 ton airliner, why wouldn't you believe that it can also destroy a bridge?
I Know the area. People climbing the towers is not new or unusual. There is just a fad for doing stupid things while flying a drone.
This perpetual motion machine Lisa made is a joke, it just keeps getting faster and faster. - Homer
You seem to totally fail to grasp that there is a *significant* and *immediate* danger that this person will fall and cause serious injury and death to others.
It's not like it would be the first time, youtuber Ally Law went up there last February with a group of people and a drone. They caused the bridge to be shutdown as a result too though. Video can be found on his youtube channel though. Definitely a sweaty palm sorta video though